Hello Everybody,
This week I had sushi for the first time in eleven months and it was spectacular. Burned out on my own cooking I needed something novel. Something to distract and enjoy. It was a temaki kit from Sushi Tama, a sleek new spot in Beverly Hills. There’s something special about eating sushi in L.A., the town that invented (for better or worse) the California roll, that fully-cooked gateway drug that leads to seared albacore which in turn eventually leads to a taste for wobbly lobes of iodine-rich sea urchin. It’s a slippery upslope of briny oceanic delights for which we must thank deities like Nobu Matsuhisa and other lesser-known practitioners of this fine art. Photo courtesy of Sushi Tama Roll Your Own But back to my dinner. Sushi Tama offers Temaki sets, which is to say bamboo boxes of pickled ginger, freshly grated wasabi, lozenges of sushi rice, a packet of toasted nori, and, most exquisitely, sliced sushi-grade hamachi, salmon, tuna, and yes, wobbly lobes of iodine-rich uni. Grab said rice with crisp nori, dab it with wasabi, load it with fish, kiss it with soy, and you’re done. The self-care that comes from self-assembly is lovely, but I must say it made me long for the distant delight of watching a sushi master cut and roll and assemble my dinner at a crowded sushi bar. I’m praying we’ll get to that moment, and all the other normalities big and small, as soon as we can. Keep supporting your local restaurants. They need you to get through these next few months, to hold on, to keep going. Tamale kit from Guerilla Tacos Photo courtesy of Guerilla Tacos Hot Tamales Here’s a holiday takeout idea for folks in the L.A. area: Guerilla Tacos tamale kit. Gather your family around the table and make a batch for you and some for your neighbors. It’s a fine holiday to hunker down and make something with your hands that also supports a restaurant. It’s $75 and makes 30 tamales! Photo courtesy of Me’s Way Keep It Spicy But there are limits to how much takeout one can afford, which is why I have, over the pandemic, amassed a small collection of the condiments I keep in a cloistered part of the fridge I call the flavor corner. It’s a few super spicy things that dose my food with punch and pungency and fix all less-than-flavorful culinary flourishes. My new favorite is Me’s Way Chili Sauce, a Hue-style Vietnamese concoction made with fish sauce, chiles, garlic, and a touch of sugar. It’s zippy, salty, spicy, and sweet, and it ennobles nearly anything: rice and beans, noodle soup, heck, even a sesame cracker. Happy cooking, ordering, and snacking! —Hugh Garvey, editor in chief
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